By: The Blueboys were all over the Bucs from the start and cruised to victory on the strength of two first half goals.
Box Score JACKSONVILLE, Ill. – The difference in class was evident from the early stages of Saturday's match between the Illinois College men's soccer team and Beloit College. The Blueboys pressed the Buccaneers throughout the day and were rewarded with their highest goal haul since an 8-0 win over MacMurray back on Sept. 3. Four different players found the back of the net for IC, who came away with a 4-1 win to improve to 8-4-2 (4-1-1 Midwest Conference).
"It's nice when the guys put what we worked on in training during the week to use during the games," said Head Coach
Tyler Sheikh. "We have goals in us, but it's a question of concentration and execution."
The execution was there from the start. Illinois College had 10 shots in the first half to zero for Beloit and rarely let the Bucs even advance the ball into the Blueboys' final third. The first breakthrough came in the 22nd minute as
Josue Hernandez precisely floated a ball in from the left flank and found
Ben Cochran. Cochran's header just had the loft to get past Beloit keeper BJ Kiser to make it 1-0. The lead was doubled in the 35th minute as
Joe Tooley ran onto a ball played forward from midfield by
Roger Mies. Tooley drew Kiser in, then went near post to give IC a 2-0 halftime advantage.
With as dominating as the Blueboys were in the first half, a comeback seemed unlikely, but the door was slammed shut after
Mesfin Lenth drew a penalty before the hour mark.
Josue Hernandez scored from the spot to make it 3-0.
Beloit was able to salvage something from the contest with an 83rd minute goal from David Hlawek. Less than a minute later, the IC lead was back to three as
Michael Hernandez got in on the act on a header from
Christian Rwiyaza, giving the Blueboys their final margin of victory.
"We'll be a little displeased giving up a goal late, but I'm glad we got everyone a chance to play. Anyone that sees the field for us has earned it," Sheikh noted.
With the victory, IC stays level with Carroll on 13 points in the conference standings, a total that is currently tied for the fourth and final spot in the MWC Tournament. Tomorrow brings a swing game against Lake Forest, who sits third in the conference with 14 points, though IC does have two matches in hand on the Foresters. First kick is at 11 a.m. from England Stadium.
